In the past, virtual landscape design at each level was fixed and predetermined. Some past video games such as Nintendo's Pikmin provided randomness in dynamically changing or constructing aspects of virtual game levels and associated landscapes. However, further improvements are possible.
To make virtual game terrain more interesting and dynamically created, the technology herein provides that in-game characters select the proper animation to use depending on the state of the terrain on which they are currently moving. In this specific case, the character chooses an animation depending on the angle of the ground (e.g., the orientation of the structure relative to virtual gravity) on which it is walking. The method involves real-time determination of the ground angle which is then used to choose the most desirable animation from a closed set of pre-created animations. The animation set consists of animations rendered with the character moving on flat terrain, as well as animations rendered of the character moving uphill and downhill (separately) at pre-determined angles. In this game an animation set consisted of the following animations: 0 degrees, 15 degrees uphill, 30 degrees uphill, 45 degrees uphill, 15 degrees downhill, 30 degrees downhill, 45 degrees downhill). Drawing of the animation is offset to give the best appearance relative to the ground angle.